Controlled speed feed spout



June 5, 1956 J. R. CLARK CONTROLLED SPEED FEED SPOUT 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 8, 1953 WWESWQ ATTORNEYS June 5, 1956 J. R. CLARK 2,748,815

CONTROLLED SPEED FEED SPOUT Filed June 8, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 1N VENTOR Jam R. 67ml ATTORNEYS June 5, 1956 J. R. CLARK 2,748,815

CONTROLLED SPEED FEED SPOUT Filed June 8, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 1N VE NTOR Jam R, lllwllf,

ATTORNEYS nited States Patent 'Ofice 2,748,815 Patented June 5, 1956 CONTROLLED SPEED FEED SPOUT James R. Clark, Watertown, N. Y., assignor to Carthage Machine Company, Carthage, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 8, 1953, Serial No. 360,227

7 Claims. (Cl. 144180) This invention relates to wood chipping machinery for the preparation of wood pulp for paper making, and particularly to a feeding mechanism for feeding wood slabs, logs, sawmill edgings, mill ends, butts, or the like to a rotary chipping machine at a controlled rate to insure a high quality of chips of uniform size.

In preparing wood for pulping, it is desirable that the chips be of uniform size and cut at a uniform angle across the grain of the wood. It is also necessary that chips of different kinds of woods be of different lengths. The various woods used in paper making range from hard maple to very soft woods and the optimum chip length, measured along the grain, varies for each type of wood from about /2 or /8 of an inch to about A of an inch. The efficient production of wood chips for pulping requires that a very large percentage of the wood employed be cut to the proper size chips, otherwise excessive wastage occurs since the chips are graded prior to pulping.

The present invention comprises generally a rotary wood chipping machine of the vertical disc type having a horizontal feed arrangement wherein the wood material is fed longitudinally of its grain into the rotary chipper at a controlled rate, at a predetermined angle, and in proper orientation. The invention includes a feeding arrangement having means for aligning each piece or slab of wood so that its grain extends longitudinally of the direction of feed and means for forcibly feeding the work piece to the chipper at a controlled uniform rate. These means comprise generally a series of helically ribbed rolls defining at least a portion of the bottom of a feed trough. The rolls are simultaneously rotated in such direction that their helical ribs crowd the work piece against a side of the chute and thus properly align it with the direction of feed and a gravity-responsive feed roll is mounted over the work piece with means for driving the feed roll at a predetermined rate to move the work pieces forwardly in the trough. Means are also provided for varying the rate of feed of the work pieces and further means are provided for stopping the feed roll in the event an oversize work piece is placed in the chute or in the event an operator becomes entangled with a work piece.

Rotary chippers of the type contemplated herein consist generally of a large vertically arranged disc mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis and having one or more knives fixed to an end face of the disc. The cutting edges of the knives are spaced from the face of the disc by a distance equal to the maximum desired depth of cut, or length of chip, and a fixed or bed knife is arranged in fixed position closely adjacent the path of the cutting edges of the knives on the rotary disc. As work is fed into the face of the disc its end is out between the rotary and stationary blades. and, assuming the work piece is fed fast enough to have its end pushed into contact with the face of the disc, chips of maximum length are produced. The present invention includes means for forcibly feeding the work pieces into the rotary chipper and includes a change speedmechanism to change the speed or rate at which work is fed to produce chips of uniform length. The means for driving the feed arrangement also includes a transmission assembly having a separable drive connection and a reversing mechanism in addition to means for establishing forward drive. A safety lever is positioned adjacent the feed trough and connected to the transmission assembly to insure stopping the mechanism by separating the separable drive connection in the event an oversize piece is placed in the feed arrangement or to actually reverse the direction of feed in the event an operator becomes entangled with the work piece.

it is therefore an object of this invention to provide feed means for a wood chipping machine to forcibly feed wood to the chipper at a controlled rate to produce chips of uniform length.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a feed mechanism for a wood chipping machine which aligns work pieces placed therein to orient the grain of the wood to extend in a direction parallel to the direction of feed to thus control the angle at which the chips are cut.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a feed mechanism of the type described having means to change the rate of feed when the chip length is changed.

Another object of the invention is to incorporate, in a positive feeding mechanism, safety devices to prevent jamming the feed mechanism by oversize work pieces and to prevent injury to the operator of the machine.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a positive feed mechanism that is relatively simple in construction and economical to build but yet of rugged construction.

An additional and general object of the invention is to provide a wood chipping machine including a positive feed arrangement capable of producing wood chips of a uniform high quality.

Further and additional objects and advantages will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the description proceeds in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of a machine constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the left hand portion of Fig. l with certain parts broken away or shown in section to more clearly illustrate the underlying structure;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view through the feed trough taken substantially along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view through the feed trough taken substantially along the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

The machine of the present invention comprises any suitable base structure 2 having bearings 4 mounted thereon and a shaft 6 journalled in the bearings 4. The shaft 6 extends to the left of the bearings, as seen in Fig. l and has fixed to its outer end a large circular disc 8. The disc 8 is provided with a circumferentially spaced series of radially extending openings 10 (see Figs. 3 and 4) with cutting knives 12 arranged adjacent and partially over the openings 10 with their cutting edges constituting the. axially outermost part of the knives. A suitable housing 14 is mounted on the frame 2 and enshrouds the rotary disc 8 but is provided with a discharge opening 16 through which chips are discharged from the machine. Fixed relative to the housing 14 and the frame 2 is a stationary or bed knife 18 (see Fig. 2) having an upwardly directed cutting edge adjacent a feed opening 20 in the housing 14 and with the cutting edge thereof positioned closely adjacent the path of movement of the cutting edges of the rotary knives 12. Thus far the structure is conventional and illustrative of known rotary chipping machines.

As the disc 8 is rotated at high speed, slabs or other forms of wood work pieces may be fed through the opening and the knives 12 and 18 shear the ends off the work pieces to produce the desired chips. Any suitable means may be employed to rotate the disc 8, such as the multiple V-pullcy 22 fixed to the shaft 6 between the bearings 4. Any suitable prime mover or other motor means may be connected by appropriate belts to the pulley 22 to furnish power for the machine.

xtending horizontally outwardly from the lower portion of the opening 20 and at an acute angle thereto is a feed trough 24 having a composite bottom structure, to be further described, and upstanding side walls 26 and 28. The end of the trough adjacent the housing 14 is cut at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of the feed trough whereby the feed trough is p sitioncd at an angle to the face of the rotary disc 8, but in a horizontal plane as clearly shown in the drawings, and particularly Fig. 2. The entrance end of the feed trough is provided with a bottom wall 30 and the portion of the feed trough adjacent housing 14 is provided with a supporting or bearing member 32.

A plurality of parallel rolls 34 are journal'ted at their foremost ends in the member 32 and are journalled at their entrance ends in a supporting structure 36 (Fig. 4) consisting of a housing fixed to the bottom surface of the bottom wall 30. Each of the rolls 34 is provided with a projecting helical rib 38 between its ends and the ends of the rolls within the housing 36 each have a bevel gear 40 fixed thereto. A transverse shaft 42 extends through and is journalled in the housing 36 transversely of the feed trough 24 and has a plurality of bevel gears 48 (Fig. 2) thereon meshing respectively with the corresponding bevel gears 40 on the rolls 34. It will be evident that upon rotation of the shaft 42 in a direction to cause the rolls 34 to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, a work piece 50 resting on the ribs of the rolls 34 will be urged sideways by those ribs into contact with the side wall 28 of the feed trough and also forwardly toward the rotary disc 8. The work pieces are thus properly aligned in the feed mechanism to arrange the grain of the wood to lie parallel to the direction of feed. As clearly shown in Fig. 2, the bearing member 32 is of stepped formation and the rolls 34 are of different lengths so that their delivery ends lie closely adjacent the entrance opening 20 of the housing 14. It is to be further noted that the bottom wall 30 at the entrance end of the feed trough lies substantially coplanar with the upper peripheries of the aligning rolls 34.

Brackets 52 (see Figs. 1 and 4) are fixed to frame 2 and support aligned bearings 54 in which a second trans verse shaft 56 is journalled. Each of a pair of arms 58 is freely pivoted on the shaft 56 and extends upwardly and toward the disc 8 adjacent the outer edges of the side walls 26 and 28 of the feed trough. A feed roll 60 is journalled to the free ends of the arms 58 and rotatably mounted thereon about an axis extending transversely of and over the feed trough 24. The roil 60 is preferably provided with a serrated periphery as clearly indicated, with the teeth at the bottom portion thereof directed in a forwardly or work-feeding direction. Since the arms 58 are freely pivoted to the shaft 56, the weight of the roll 60 causes that roll to be urged by gravity into driving contact with the top of a work piece 50. Rotation of the roll 60 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 4, causes a forced positive feed of the work piece 50 into the chipping machine at a rate fixed by the rate of rotation of the feed roll 60.

The shaft 56 extends beyond both arms 58 and at the left end thereof, as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2. The left end of shaft 56 has a pair of sprockets 62 and 64 (Fig. 2) fixed thereto. The shaft 66, by which feed roll 6t) is journalled to arms 58, has a sprocket 68 fixed thereto in alignment with the sprocket 62 on shaft 56. A

sprocket chain 70 is trained over the sprockets 68 and 62 to drivingly connect feed roll 60 to the shaft 56. The first transverse shaft 46, heretofore described, has a sprocket 72 fixed on one end thereof in alignment with the sprocket 64 and a suitable drive chain 74 is trained over the sprockets 64 and 72 to drivingly connect the shaft 46 to the shaft 56.

A generally U-shaped yoke member 76 embraces the feed roll 60 and is journalled on the shaft 66 of the feed roll whereby it is freely pivoted about the axis of the rolt 60. A plurality of generally triangularly shaped plates 78 are arranged in spaced parallel relation and fixed at their rearmost ends to the web portion of the yoke 76, such as by welding or the like. The plates '78 extend forwardly to a position adjacent the opening 28 in housing 14 and a roller 80 is journalled between each adjacent pair of plates 78 at the forward ends thereof. Additional rollers 82 are journalled between each adjacent pair of plates near the rearmost ends of the plates and all of the rollers are positioned with their peripheries extending downwardly below the lowermost edges of the plates 78 in substantially the same horizontal plane as the lowermost portion of the feed roll 60. It will be apparent that under the influence of gravity, the hold-down means comprising yoke 76, plates 78 and rollers 80 and 82 Will be caused to bear on the top surface of the work piece 50 between the feed roll 60 and the delivery end of the feed trough 24 to thus firmly hold the forward end of the work piece down against the bottom of the feed trough to prevent unwanted movement or shifting of the work piece upon impact of the knives 12 with the end thereof. As indicated in the drawings, the feed trough directs work pieces 50 into the housing 14 near the bottom thereof and at a location where the path of the knives 12 is arcuate and extending at least partially in a generally upward direction. Before each knife 12 completes its cut across the end of the work piece 50 it begins to move in an upward direction and would tend to lift the end of the workpiece if it were not for the resistance to such lifting provided by the weight of the hold-down means.

Referring again to Fig. l, the shaft 6 projects to the right beyond the outermost bearing 4 and into a housing 84. The housing 84 encloses a change speed mechanism connected to the shaft 6 and arranged to drive an output shaft 86. The change speed mechanism in housing 84 may be of any desired type so long as it is capable of selectively changing the ratio of the drive from shaft 6 to shaft 86. The shaft 86 may be supported by a suitable bearing 88 mounted on a bracket 90 carried by the frame 2.

The shaft 86 is connected, in driving relation, to the input shaft 92 of a transmission gear mechanism 94 mounted on a bracket 96 in alignment with the shaft 86. The mechanism 94 has an output shaft 98 and contains suitable mechanism of any well-known type whereby the shaft 86 may be connected to the shaft 98 to drive the latter in the same direction. The transmission 94 further has separable elements therein whereby all drive from shaft 86 to shaft 98 may be disconnected, or, in other words, establish neutral in the transmission 94, and additional means for connecting shaft 86 to drive the shaft 98 in a reverse direction. The means for controlling the transmission 94 to establish forward drive, neutral or reverse, includes a suitable rock shaft 100 extending outwardly from the transmission housing and provided with a crank arm 102. The arm 102 is pivoted to one end of a link 103 which is pivoted at its other end to a crank arm 104 mounted on a rock shaft 106. Upon appropriate partial rotation of the rock shaft 106, the transmission 94 may be controlled to establish forward drive from shaft 86 to shaft 98, to disconnect those shafts and establish a neutral" condition, or to connect shaft 86 to drive shaft 98- in a reverse direction.

The shaft 98 drives through a suitable torque limiting device 108 to a shaft 110 extending into a gear box 112. The gear box 112 constitutes the upper portion of a mechanism for driving a horizontally extending shaft 114 (see Fig. 2) at a level below the shaft 110 and at an angle thereto. The housing 112 is adjustably connected to a lower housing 116 and a vertical shaft (not shown) extends from one housing into the other. Appropriate worm or bevel gearing connects the shafts 110 and 114, respectively, to that vertical shaft and the housings 112 and 116 may be angularly adjusted about the axis of the vertical shaft to place the shaft 114 in any desired angular position relative to the shaft 110. The transfer gear unit comprising the shafts 110 and 114, the housings 112 and 116, and the vertical shaft and associated gearing, are a form of transmission readily available on the market and need not be further described here since they constitute no essential part of the present invention.

The change speed mechanism 84, the transmission 94, and the torque limiting device 108 are also available on the open market so a detailed description of each is deemed unnecessary, particularly since the details of each are in no way an essential part of the present invention.

The shaft 114 has a sprocket 118 fixed thereto in alignment with a sprocket 120 fixed to the right hand end of shaft 56 (previously described) as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2. A drive chain 122 is trained over the sprockets 118 and 120 to drivingly' connect the shaft 114 to the shaft 56. A suitable guard or protective housing 123 may enclose the sprockets 114 and 120 along with chain 122 and a similar guard or housing 125 may enclose the sprockets 62, 64, 68 and 72, along with their associated chains on the other side of the feed trough.

A safety control member comprises a cross piece 124 mounted at the upper ends of arms 126 pivoted to the sides of the housings 123 and 125, respectively, below the feed trough 24. Arms 126 extend downwardly outside the outer sides of the feed trough and the cross piece 124 extends transversely across the feed trough at a substantial distance above the bottom of the feed trough. The height of the cross piece 124 is substantially equal to the distance from the bottom of the feed trough to the bottom of the feed roll 60 when the latter is in its highest practical position. Thus, if a work piece that is too high is placed on the bottom wall 30. any attempt to feed that work piece forwardly will cause it to engage the cross piece 124 and, through mechanism to be described, will disconnect drive to the feed roll 60 and thus prevent feeding the oversize work piece with the consequent possibility of jamming the machine.

The right hand arm 126, as viewed in Fig. 1, has fixed thereon a crank arm 128 which, in turn, is pivoted to a link 130. The upper end of the link 130 is pivoted to a crank arm 132 fixed to an end of the rock shaft 106 previously described. The arrangement is such that when cross piece 124 is in its position nearest the entrance end of feed trough 24, the transmission mechanism 94 is set to connect shaft 86 to drive shaft 98 in the same direction. Rotation of shaft 98 in a forward direction transmits drive through the transfer gear mechanism in housings 112 and 116 to sprocket 118 and thence to shaft 56. Rotation of shaft 56 causes simultaneous rotation of the feed roll 60 and the aligning rolls 34 in timed relation to each other through the sprocket and gear mechanisms previously described. If the cross piece 124 of the safety control means is moved to a predetermined po sition toward feed roll 60 its connected mechanism adjusts the transmission 94 to disconnect all drive from shaft 86 to shaft 98 and thus stop the operation of the feeding mechanism. Continued movement of cross piece 124 toward feed roll 60 will establish reverse drive in the transmission 94 and cause the feed roll 60 to rotate in such direction as to retract any work piece 50 thereunder and move the same toward the entrance end of the feed trough 24.

The safety control means, which includes the cross piece 124, not only controls the maximum size of work piece that can be handled, but also constitutes a means to prevent injury to an operator. In the event an operator becomes somehow entangled with a work piece 50 or his clothing becomes caught thereon, forward movement of the work piece would tend to drag the operator into the feeding mechanism and possibly cause serious injury. The safety control feature permits the operator to not only stop the forcible feed of the work piece into the chipper but permits him to actually effect reverse movement of the work piece and thus facilitate his disentanglement therefrom.

While no particular or specific gear ratios in the various mechanisms described have been identified, they are preferably such that the feed roll 60 feeds a work piece into the housing 14 at a rate slightly in excess of the theoretical rate necessary to produce chips of the desired length.

To change the length of chips produced, the knives must be reset to position their cutting edges the proper distance from the face of disc 8, and it is thereafter only necessary to adjust the change speed mechanism 84 to thus vary the relative rate of operation between the rotary disc 8 and the feed rolls 60.

While a single specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described herein, it is to be understood that various modifications may be resorted to without departing from the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1; Feeding means for a wood chipper comprising, a horizontal feed trough having a material guiding side wall, a plurality of parallel aligning and feeding rolls rotatably mounted in the bottom of said trough with their axes substantially parallel to said side wall and extending in-the desired direction of feed, a helical rib on each of said rolls, driving means for simultaneously rotating said rolls in such direction about their axes that work pieces resting thereon are urged against said side wall and forwardly by said ribs, a heavy serrated feed roll arranged with its axis transverse to the axes of said aligning and feeding rolls, means mounting said feed roll above said aligning and feeding rolls for free vertical movement, under the influence of gravity toward said aligning and feeding rolls, and means for simultaneously driving said feed roll and said aligning and feeding rolls in timed relation and at a uniform rate, the means mounting said feed roll comprising a pair of arms extending upwardly and forwardly on opposite sides of said trough, said feed roll being journalled in the upper ends of said arms, the lower ends of said arms being pivoted about a common fixed axis substantially parallel to the axis of said feed roll, and drive means for said feed roll including a driving member mounted for rotation about said common fixed axis.

2. Feeding means for a wood chipper comprising, a feed trough having a bottom, a serrated feed roll arranged to forcibly feed material along said trough, driving means for said roll including a transmission having a separable driving connection and a drive reversing mechanism, a movable control member for said transmission having a portion overlying said feed trough in advance of said feed roll, said control member being operatively connected to said transmission and so arranged that movement of said overlying portion toward said feed roll to a predetermined position actuates said separable connection to disconnect said driving means from said feed roll and movement beyond said position actuates said reversing mechanism to reverse the direction of rotation of said feed roll.

3. Feeding means as defined in claim 2, wherein said feed roll is mounted for free vertical movement between a lower and an upper position whereby to engage the tops of work pieces of different heights, said overying portion of said control member being at a height above the bottom of said feed trough corresponding to the upper position of said feed roll whereby to disconnect the drive to said feed roll when too high a work piece is fed to said trough.

4. Feeding means for a wood chipper comprising, a horizontal feed trough having a material guiding side wall, a plurality of aligning rolls rotatably mounted in the bottom of said trough with their axes substantially parallel to said side wall, a helical rib on each of said rolls, driving means for simultaneously rotating said rolls in such direction about their axes that work pieces resting thereon are urged against said side wall and forwardly by said ribs, the entrance end of said feed trough comprising a fixed bottom wall substantially coplanar with the uppermost portions of said aligning rolls, a first transverse shaft journalled below said bottom wall adjacent the ends of said aligning rolls, means connecting said shaft to each of said rolls whereby to simulta neously rotate said rolls upon rotation of said shaft, I

a second transverse shaft journalled below said bottom wall, an arm pivoted on said second shaft and extending upwardly and rearwardly therefrom alongside said feed trough, a serrated feed roll journalled in the upper end of said arm with its axis extending transversely over said feed trough, means for driving said second transverse shaft, driving means connecting said second transverse shaft to said feed roll, and further driving means connecting said second transverse shaft to said first transverse shaft.

5. Feeding means for a wood chipper comprising, a horizontal feed trough having a bottom and a delivery end, a feed roll arranged with its axis extending transversely over said trough spaced from said delivery end,

means mounting said feed roll for free vertical movement toward and from the bottom of said trough, means for rotating said feed roll about its axis in a direction to advance a work piece thereunder toward said delivery end, hold-down means freely pivoted about the axis of said feed roll and extending therefrom toward said delivery end, work piece engaging elements on said hold-down means arranged to engage the top of that portion of a work piece between said feed roll and said delivery end whereby to rest on and hold said portion of said work piece against the bottom of said feed trough.

6. Feeding means as defined in claim 5, wherein said hold-down means comprises a plurality of relatively fixed parallel vertical plates and wherein said work piece engaging elements comprise a plurality of laterally spaced rows of rollers journalled between adjacent plates with their peripheries extending below the lowermost edges of said plates.

7. Feeding means as defined in claim 5, wherein said hold-down means comprises a plurality of relatively fixed parallel vertical plates and wherein said work piece engaging elements comprise a plurality of laterally spaced rows of rollers journalled between adjacent plates with their peripheries extending below the lowermost edges of said plates, said delivery end of said trough extending at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis thereof and said vertical plates being of different lengths whereby their ends lie in a line generally parallel to said delivery end, there being a work engaging roller between each pair of adjacent plates at the forward ends thereof adjacent said delivery end.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 154,912 Rodgers Sept, 8, 1874 447,462 Crane Mar. 3, 1891 508,147 Niethammer et al. Nov. 7, 1893 849,122 George Apr. 2, 1907 1,456,328 Moravec May 22, 1923 1,538,066 Street May 19, 1925 2,005,799 Nicholson et al. June 25, 1935 2,269,352 Bacon Jan. 6, 1942 2,390,459 Power Dec. 4, 1945 2,490,165 Shaw Dec. 6, 1949 2,630,904 Bozek Mar. 30, 1953 2,652,077 Alexander Sept. 15, 1953 

